The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD), the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
(NIDDK), and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International request applications for research to address the problem
of hypoglycemia unawareness in people with diabetes.* The objectives of this request for applications (RFA) are to define
the mechanisms underlying the loss of hypoglycemia awareness in patients with diabetes, and to develop novel approaches to
prevent or reverse hypoglycemia unawareness. Potential areas of research include studies to: elucidate the identity, location,
and functional characteristics of glucose-sensing neurons, and determine whether these characteristics are altered by recurrent
episodes of hypoglycemia; identify the neuronal populations involved in generating hypoglycemic awareness, and the potential
effects of recurrent hypoglycemia upon these neural systems; identify the neuroendocrine or biochemical signals generated
by hypoglycemia, and the changes in these signals over recurrent episodes of hypoglycemia; determine whether altered glucose
transport may play a role in hypoglycemia unawareness; explore the effect of sleep on counter-regulatory responses, and determine
the role of nighttime hypoglycemia in loss of awareness; delineate the role of age, gender, or race/ethnicity in the development
of hypoglycemia unawareness; assess the extent to which uncontrolled hyperglycemia may impair neuronal function and contribute
to hypoglycemia unawareness; and develop and test strategies for promoting glucose sensing by the brain. APPLICATION RECEIPT
DATE: November 21, 2001. For more information, potential applicants should contact Dr. Toby Behar, Program Director, Neural
Environment Cluster, NINDS, Neuroscience Center, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 2114A, Bethesda, MD 20892; telephone: (301)
496-1431; fax: (301) 480-2424; e-mail: tb72z@nih.gov.